CONGRATULATIONS to our newest ambassadors!
Riley Barnes (12)
Back in 2018, Riley wanted a summer job to earn some money. She decided to try raising chickens so that she could sell their eggs. Her parents bought her the first 12 chickens with the stipulation that she would pay for the chickens, their feed and other expenses from the proceeds of her egg sales. Since she began, she has grown her flock to 78 chickens, has them nicely organized by age and follows their egg production, feeds and cares for them every day, and sells a LOT of eggs. In 2020, she sold 11702 eggs and in 2021 she sold 7000 eggs. She has used some of the profits from her business to provide for others in the community. In 2019, she helped a single mom with very limited funds by buying all of her children’s Christmas gifts that year. Later, she put together a big care package for a man with cancer. She “absolutely loves giving back and helping others.”
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Bryson Cope (13)
“Demonstrating respectful behavior could be life changing for some people as you never know what they are going through.”
Bryson heard about the 50 yard lawnmowing challenge and decided to take the challenge. He is in the middle of his challenge and is mowing lawns for the elderly and disabled in his community. In addition, he is looking towards becoming a “junior volunteer fireman” when he turns 14 and plans to continue mowing lawns for others even after he has met the challenge. |
Kaylee Lewis
“My respect project showcases the landscape of Davie County. I went to different sites all over the county and took photographs. These photographs were taken to display the beauty of Davie County. Many people take for granted the allure of our county or just don’t take the time to really notice it. The photographs that I took make us realize there are so many beautiful sites in our community. My project helps more people gain respect for the landscape of Davie County.”
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Ava Brown (13)
Ava learned about DRI from a video shown at school. Shortly after seeing the video, she noticed that students were coming up to her teachers and requesting a pencil to do their work with. These are not supplied by the school system, but are paid for by the teachers from their own money. Ava thought that it would be respectful to her teachers to start a project to obtain and supply pencils to all of the schools in Davie County so that students wouldn’t have to take the teacher’s pencils. She is thinking about other ways that she can help out her teachers, perhaps by providing erasers to go with the pencils. Her project is called “Pencils for Peers”!
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Madelynn Keller
“My respect project, the Creating Community Column, will rely on a partnership between me and the Weekly Talon, the Davie High Newspaper. The Creating Community Column would highlight community respect acts by staff, students and clubs in the Davie County School System and what respect means to them. I hope to help people in our community feel seen and heard because even the smallest acts of respect can have the biggest impacts on people’s lives and those who make life desirable in Davie County deserve to be recognized.”
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Jack Williams
"My Respect project is centered around the compilation of easily accessible resources for people in our community that are facing extraneous situations. Another important part of my project will be raising awareness and money for research on Type 1 Diabetes, which I myself have. I hope that through fundraising and education, children living with Type 1 Diabetes in our community will no longer be overlooked. To me Davie Respect Initiative is about coming together as a community to provide resources and support to our fellow citizens.”
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Sean Lane 
“Cards for Kindness is a community service project focused on spreading respect and kindness by distributing homemade cards. The cards share positive messages and quotes, encouraging recipients to care for others. The cards are all designed and created by me with love.” Sean is currently working with Mayor Rick Cross and the Senior Center to see how his cards may be best distributed.
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Reagan Brooks
Reagan Brooks is a Senior at Davie High and the daughter of two teachers. Because she has been in and around schools her whole life, Reagan has observed that most of the classrooms for the students with disabilities have either been located in a separate hallway or off to the side and while she knows that these students need their own environment to thrive, they also need to socialize and be an active part of the school activities like every other student. Throughout high school, it has been Reagan’s mission to include these students, including with her dance team. The new dance team coach happens to be the Special Ed Teacher so this has allowed many opportunities for Reagan to jump start her project. The “Soaring Eagles” would come in on Fridays and dance with the team. Seeing how excited the Soaring Eagles were to be dancing with the team, just reinforced Reagan’s thoughts of inclusion. “My project’s goal is to make sure that not only the students at my school, but all people living with neurodivergence feel comfortable in their skin and know that they are loved, seen and heard.”
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Ellie Prillaman (13)
Ellie Prillaman, a 13-year-old student from South Middle School as an Ambassador of Respect. In Ellie’s words, “I show respect when I look the person in the eye when they are talking. Respect is also recognizing when people are being ignored or forgotten and including them.” Ellie’s winning idea is to create “large splatter paintings” for 10 people at Davie Place Nursing Home. When she delivers a painting, Ellie will have the opportunity to visit and get to know the resident. Ellie plans to coordinate with the nursing home staff when choosing the residents; she wants to provide paintings for those that may need more support. There was a sample of one of Ellie’s “splatter paintings” on the monitor at the award celebration. It was so colorful and cheerful, that anyone would welcome such a work of art!
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Sugar Valley Composite Squadron Color Guard Team
The DRI challenge is not only for youth 12-21, but groups or clubs are also encouraged to enter. In the 5 year history of the DRI, this is only the second group to enter. The volunteer panel unanimously selected the Color Guard Team for its demonstration of Respect.
Cadet Technical Sergeant Soto, the Color Guard Captain, shared that: “The main purpose of the Color Guard team is to show respect, not only to our organization by carrying the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) flag, but also to our great nation through the bearing of the U.S. flag as well. The Color Guard team is able to demonstrate one of CAP’s core values, Respect, by presenting the Colors at ceremonies and events such as this." Read more here. |
Sylas Johnson & Scarlett Brock (12) |
Grace Goodman (14) |
"When respect is shown, I feel that the individuals receiving the respect feel a mutual connection with the other person; whilst, yes, they might be drastically different in some aspects, the two of them are both human beings. In this, respect is formed—the knowledge that people are not all that different after all is what leads many to respect one another. Respect is human, and that display of humanity can change someone's day for the better, be it small or large.
Our respect project is to reinstate Spanish language classes in elementary and middle schools. Reinstatement of Spanish classes would inspire bilingualism, a trait that many Americans unfortunately lack. Embracing bilingualism further will also tear down many lingual and racial barriers. If people understand not only the language, but perhaps even the cultural norms of other nations, tolerance would become much easier. I believe it is much easier to treat people equally when you have something in common with them. For a lot of children—particularly, again, those who do not speak English—there is a seemingly unbreakable barrier that doesn't allow them to figure out if they have anything in common with their peers. But if their peers learn their language—most commonly, Spanish—that barrier is shattered into a million pieces, and new friendships can be born." |
"For those receiving respect or acts of kindness, it makes them feel grateful and cared for and they have a sense of belonging and acceptance from others.
My idea for the respect project is to set up a Books Of Blessings Box in the Middle schools and High school for donations of gently used books. These donated books will be sent to the local elementary schools around Davie County for teachers to use in their classroom libraries. I can start by donating my own books. Giving the books to the younger kids will help inspire them to read and this will inspire them to share their books as well. This will also help the teachers, by freeing up their funds for other classroom resources. Middle school and high school students will be able to give back to the community by donating their childhood books." |
Ryann Davis (13)
"Davie County is a pretty small county. So, I feel everyone shows their appreciation differently. Recently I have been noticing that we have many littering issues. I don’t blame it on anyone but the human population. I think we as a whole could be doing things that are not only good for the planet but also entertaining! So that’s why I have thought about what I like to call the “clean for coupons”! During the summers and breaks during the year, many camps that are active could take the campers and counselors on a “field trip” to do good deeds. Basically, all participants would take 1-4 hours each trip to gather garbage and litter all across Davie County for coupons to businesses around the area. Not only would the participants see the issues they could be causing, but they also would be helping solve them! AND an added bonus, businesses would provide small treat coupons to the kids for their good work. A WIN WIN for Davie County and the participating students!"
